What’s about to unfold is a tale of three restaurants, two resorts and one 16-mile-long peninsula. A highlight in the life of every gourmand is usually when an offhanded food or restaurant recommendation turns into one of the best meal experiences you could ever hope for. Belizean cuisine is much like that – both delightfully surprising and satisfying. The food Belizeans eat today is a glimpse into the history of Belize, showing how food, migration, culture and the environment are all inexorably linked. A few miles away from a fairly small fishing village within the Placencia Peninsula are two resorts that are connecting people with a shared love of great food with culture and local ingredients for a blissful dining experience.
Naia Resort and Spa
Placencia Belize Beach Bar & Grill
The Placencia beaches are some of the best throughout the country of Belize. A Placencia Belize resort without a restaurant beach bar would be a loss sorely felt. For this reason, we’re glad that Naia Resort doesn’t disappoint. The outdoor seating with its warm weather and cool breezes is as nourishing to the soul as the food itself at Naia's Beach Bar and Grill. And as it turns out, the seaside views pair well with the crisp outdoor air, robust coffee and fresh baked bread and jams. Beyond breakfast the menu shifts to a mixture of light meals of mostly seafood, salads, and burgers. Cold beers and cocktails are also available at the bar. I would say, definitely try the conch carpaccio, when in season – the habanero infused oil and avocado cream is just the right combination of spice and sinfulness needed.
1981
1981 is Naia Resort’s signature restaurant named after the year Belize gained its independence. Their approach to Belizean food has been using local ingredients and familiar flavors, composed in creative and imaginative new ways. It offers a perfect indoor, waterfront setting for intimate or larger gatherings. Like the Placencia Beach Bar and Grill, 1981 restaurant also features signature seafood, meat and vegetarian dishes. Without a doubt, what makes this restaurant a clear winner among other Placencia Belize restaurants is the well-executed use of fresh local ingredients and herbs to add flavor. Banana leaves for wrapping and baking fish, cilantro as a fresh garnish, and sauces that incorporate habaneros, guavas and coconuts. A big thumbs up is well-deserved. For some, food and drink pairings must go hand in hand. Fortunately, the dining menu also includes an assortment of excellent wine and cocktail choices.
Laru Beya
Quaterdeck Restaurant and Bar
When they say variety is the spice of life, I think it’s a notion well placed here. The Quarterdeck Restaurant and Bar’s culinary inspirations are derived from as near as the Caribbean and Mexico to as far as the Mediterranean and India. Creamy pastas, Indian curry spices and a take on Jamaican jerk are testament to Belizean’s own cultural diversity. Open air dining, for which the Quarterdeck Restaurant gets its name is in its own way a feast for the eyes as well. With views of the pool and the sea beyond it, and the gentle sensation of the breeze, there’s a certain lulling of the senses that occurs, completing the overall dining experience. The diversity is foods and flavors are what makes them stand out. Even better still, seasonal foods like lobster and conch are locally sourced from the fisherfolk in the area supporting the local economy and minimizing their carbon footprint. They’re open for breakfast, lunch and dinner including a daily happy hour on tropical rum drinks, light and refreshing cocktails and ice-cold local beers.
To the food lovers and the culinary adventurers, you’ve been advised.